Its beginning is both lovely and ominous: “Once there was a Postman who fell in love with a Raven.” Their child, when it hatches, looks human but identifies as a raven. (If you have a transgendered friend, this book would make an awesome gift.) The child can write, but cannot speak, except to other birds. She communicates with humans by writing notes.

Her transformation occurs with the aid of a plastic surgeon (which perhaps won’t go over so well with members of the trans community who oppose sex reassignment surgery), sacrificing her arms for wings. How this happens is sort of glossed-over, apart from this disturbing set of sentences:

“The Raven Girl had no arms. A skein of tubes emanated from her arm sockets, blood coursing through them and back into her body.” (I’d like to see how that scene is handled on stage.)

How things work out for Raven Girl, her unusual parents, an interfering admirer, and a chorus of ravens, makes for an arresting but oddly clinical story. The characters all are kept at arm’s length, and the effect upon reaching the last page is a bit like reading the final paragraph in a news article that raises more questions than it answers. But then, this works, given the enigmatic nature of this tale.